Spain election inconclusive as Socialist party performs better than expected

Spain’s general election was inconclusive, after the Socialist party of prime minister Pedro Sánchez performed better than expected and prevented the opposition from forming a new government that would have included the far right.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) of Alberto Núñez Feijóo made substantial gains to reassert itself as Spain’s most prominent party, securing 136 seats with almost all votes counted.

But it was the performance of the Socialists that was the big surprise of the night. Polls leading up to the election had shown Mr Sánchez’s party heading for a clear defeat at the hands of the PP but it defied expectations and made some gains, only losing to the conservatives by a narrow margin of 14 seats.

“The backwards parties have failed,” the Socialist leader told supporters, in reference to the PP and Vox. “There are more Spaniards who want Spain to advance and that’s how it’s going to be.”

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The election followed a bitter campaign during which the opposition had attacked much of the government’s policies in areas such as gender equality, transgender rights and historical memory, as well criticising it for its parliamentary partners. Mr Núñez Feijóo had vowed to “roll back Sanchismo (”Sánchez-ism”) if he were elected.

Despite falling short of the seats he would need to form a majority, Mr Núñez Feijóo told his own supporters after the results came in that he plans to “open a dialogue in order to govern our country.”

Although Mr Sánchez also lacks the 176 seats needed to form a majority, he appears to have slightly more chance of doing so than his opponent. The new leftist platform, Sumar, led by labour minister Yolanda Díaz and which has absorbed 15 smaller parties to the left of the Socialists, secured 31 seats. The Socialists and Sumar had hoped to form a new coalition, although in order to do that they would need the support of several Basque and Catalan nationalist parties.

The support some of those parties provided Mr Sánchez during the last parliament created tensions with the right, who accused him of making concessions to nationalists and undermining Spain’s territorial unity.

In the immediate aftermath of the election, the hardline Catalan separatist party Together for Catalonia (JxCat), to which the self-exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont belongs, appeared unwilling to support Mr Sánchez in an investiture vote.

If neither the PP nor the Socialists are able to form a new government, a repeat election will be held, as was the case following inconclusive ballots in 2015 and 2019.

This election was the first to be held in mid-summer in Spain and 2.5 million postal votes were cast.